This is a neat trick that I have taught some dogs that live indoors permanently. I am assuming that the reader has already house trained the dog in this article. In house training, the dog gets a verbal reward or maybe even a food treat for going relieving himself outside. So, the dog is in the end going outside to: - 1. gain a reward (positive re enforcement) 2. avoid a verbal correction, The mechanism for teaching your dog this bell ring is as follows: When your dog heads to the door, open the door & verbally praise him as he heads off outside to do his business, follow him & keep up that excited praise as he goes. Bring him back inside & follow up with his favourite food treat. When this has become a habit, hang a bell with a large cord off it near the door. When your dog signals you that he wants to go outside, take him to the door & instead of opening the door, pause for a moment. About 30 seconds should see your dog start to get a little confused. At this point, you reach down & ring the bell & immediately open the door, the go on as previous wit the praise & reward etc. Keep this practice up for about two weeks, dragging out the waited moment from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, in small increments. At this point, take hold of the bell cord without ringing it & show it to your dog, wave it around a little to get him interested in it. Any attempt at all by him to grab the cord should see you ring the bell & open the door. This should go on for another week. At the end of this week, don't be surprised if you hear that bell ringing & go to find your dog at the door. Let him out with lavish praise & have a food treat waiting for him when he comes back in. Remember the # 1 rule of dog training, dog training is about consistency to achieve habituation. Just don't complain to me when your dog rings that bell at 2 am. Happy training.

How to train your dog to ring a bell when he wants to go outside.